You'll now need to wear a mask on all city public transportation

If you're not already doing that anyway

By Yu ZhimingPosted: Tuesday February 18 2020 9:16AM

Photograph: Denys Nevozhai via Unsplash

While it's probably become second nature by now, all passengers are required to mask up on Shanghai public buses and taxis as of Monday 17. According to ChinaNews, an announcement from the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission says that drivers should wear masks at all times and reserve the right to refuse passengers who do not don their own.

In order to further limit human contact and the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), the commission recommends paying via Alipay or WeChat Pay to avoid direct contact between drivers and passengers and announced that for now, taxis won't be allowed to take passengers outside city limits.

According to The Paper, Shanghai is planning to implement compulsory ID registration for all taxi passengers to better trace contact among suspected and new infection cases. Currently, the city's metro also requires all passengers to wear face masks, so it looks like this is one accessory we won't be losing any time soon.